Blaise Compaoré

Blaise Compaoré (Ziniaré, February 3, 1951) is a Burkinabe military man who was dictator of Burkina Faso from October 15, 1987 to October 31, 2014. He came to power with support of the French government through a coup d'état, in which his predecessor Thomas Sankara was assassinated. He founded the party called Congress for Democracy and Progress, to which he belongs. On October 31, 2014, he was violently removed from power in a coup d'état following a civil revolt.

Education

Blaise Compaoré was born on February 3, 1951 in Ziniaré north of Ouagadougou. He is the eldest of the seven children of Bila Maurice Compaoré and Tiga Thérèse Bougouma. Enlisted in the French army as a Senegalese rifleman in 1934, his father returned to the country in 1947 where he served as a Republican Guard. With his brothers and sisters, Blaise Compaoré spent a happy childhood between Ziniaré and Boromo. He still remembers the hunting parties he had with his father, and the great love of mothers surrounded his children.

He completed his primary education in Guiloungou (Ziniaré) in 1958. After finishing secondary school, he entered the Inter-Arms Military School of Cameroon (l'Ecole militaire Inter-armes du Cameroun, EMIAC) in 1973 and then, between 1975 and 1976, he acquired a specialization at the Montpellier Infantry School and in 1977, the year in which he was promoted to lieutenant.

In 1978 he began service in the army of the Republic of Upper Volta (as Burkina Faso was previously called) as a section chief and then as an officer of a parachute company.

Finally, in May 1980 he became aide-de-camp to the chief of staff of the Voltaic Armed Forces. A year later, in 1981 he received the title of commander of the National Commando Training Center in Po, as well as a place on the Council of Armed Forces.

Political career

He escaped from the searches of the Conseil de Salut du Peuple (CSP II) in May 1983 and organized the resistance from Po to free his arrested colleagues.

On August 4, 1983, he took the capital, Ouagadougou, and established the so-called National Council of the Revolution. Between 1983 and 1987 he was Minister of State delegate of the Presidency and then Minister of State in charge of Justice.

Coup d'état of 1983

On August 3, 1983, Thomas Sankara took power through a coup d'état, helped by Compaoré, which puts him in power. The new power changes the name of the country: Upper Volta becomes Burkina Faso. Blaise Compaoré, in this government, has the role of second officer in command and Sankara's right-hand man.

1987 coup d'état and regime change

After his military studies in Algeria, Blaise Compaoré, being the country's delegate minister of Justice, took power on "Black Thursday" October 15, 1987, in a bloody coup d'état in which Sankara, his predecessor as head of state, was assassinated. Compaoré described the murder of Thomas Sankara as an accident. Upon assuming the presidency, he declared that Sankara had “betrayed the spirit of the revolution.” He then initiated a policy of 'rectification of the Revolution', in reality a return to normal relations with Côte d'Ivoire and implicitly with France, which had previously deteriorated. In September 2008, senator and former Liberian warlord Prince Johnson claimed that his men had participated in the assassination of Thomas Sankara and this at the instigation of Blaise Compaoré.

Just after coming to power, he eliminated two of his former colleagues in Sankara's government, Captains Henri Zongo and Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani, accused of conspiring against the regime. The responsibility of Blaise Compaoré in the assassination of Sankara was the subject of a complaint against Burkina Faso presented by Mariam Sankara, widow of the former president. Later, he himself organized a new military government called the Popular Front (FP) to replace the CNR. In April 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Committee condemned Burkina Faso for refusing to investigate the circumstances of Thomas Sankara's death (and prosecute those responsible).

Starting with the Compaoré dictatorship, Burkina Faso adapted to the model of a Franco-African country due to corruption, looting of natural resources such as cotton, via the local company Sofitex or through the company Sirex, nepotism and political assassinations.

He is one of the main African allies of the Elysée, its main financier. Compaoré has supported war criminal Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, sold weapons to Sierra Leone's RUF rebels, and sent the Burkinabe Army to support Bozizé's takeover of the Central African Republic and Baré's military coup. Maïnassara in Niger in 1996.

Elections of 1991 and 1998

Detailed articles: 1991 presidential elections in Burkina Faso and 1998 presidential elections in Burkina Faso. Blaise Compaoré was elected President of the Republic on December 1, 1991, taking as an example the French in-person model (having a 7-year term). The main opposition parties boycotted the elections to protest against his illegal takeover. In this election, participation was 25%, with a very high level of abstention in these, which reflects the strong political instability and protest among the population. He was re-elected for the first time on November 15, 1998. A few days after his re-election, the famous journalist Norbert Zongo was murdered by elements of his bodyguard at the request of his brother, François Compaoré.

2005 elections

Main article: 2005 presidential election in Burkina Faso.

The Kosyam Palace, seat of the presidency since 2005.

In August 2005, Blaise Compaoré announced his intention to participate in the next presidential elections. Opposition politicians have declared his desire to run for re-election in 2005 unconstitutional due to a constitutional amendment passed in 2000, which limits a president to two terms and reduces the length of a term from seven to five years, thus preventing Compaoré undertakes a third term. Compaoré's supporters disputed this, arguing that the amendment could not be applied retroactively. Despite objections from the opposition, in October 2005, the Constitutional Council ruled that Compaoré being president in office in 2000, the amendment could not come into force before the end of his second term, authorizing him to present his candidacy for the 2005 elections. In 2005, Compaoré was re-elected against 12 other candidates, winning 80.35% of the votes. Although 16 opposition parties announced a coalition to prevent Compaoré from retaining power, ultimately no one wanted to cede his position to another coalition leader and the alliance failed. Compaoré was sworn in for another presidential term on December 20, 2005.

2010 Elections

Main article: 2010 presidential elections in Burkina Faso.

Supporters in the 2010 elections On November 25, 2010, Blaise Compaoré was re-elected in the first vote as head of Burkina Faso, with 80.15% of the votes cast, for one last term. Participation was established at 54.9%. The losers denounced fraud in those elections and 4 of them refused to recognize the results.

2011 revolt

The Burkinabé revolt begins on February 22, 2011, after the death of a student beaten by the police in Koudougou in Burkina Faso. The demonstrations, calling for an investigation into his death and demanding an end to impunity for police violence, were bloodily suppressed on February 7 and turned into riots in March. In April, many riots broke out in the police, army and CRS. In May, the protest continued in a diffuse manner.

2014 revolt

As a response to his attempts to reform the Constitution of Burkina Faso to further extend his presidential term, which was already 27 years, a series of violent and massive protests began that on October 30, 2014 led to the assault of the parliament. Finally Compaoré declared a state of emergency and resolved to dissolve the government. However, Compaoré's resolution was not accepted by the Army, which for the most part openly supported the civil revolts and considered the president's decision as a maneuver to continue leading the Executive even appointing new cabinet members. Compaoré took refuge in Yamoussoukro, the political capital of the Ivory Coast.

On November 1, Colonel Yacouba Isaac Zida assumed the head of State and proclaimed a transitional government that would lead a new constituent process in order to restore order within a period of twelve calendar months.

Current News

Recently, in October 2021 and April 2022, a trial was held in the capital of Burkina Faso regarding the murder of Sankara, where Compaoré, although not present, was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Responsibility in political assassinations

Assassination of Thomas Sankara

He took power in the brutal 1987 coup d'état that culminated in the execution of the previous president, Thomas Sankara. Compaoré described his murder as an accident, when numerous versions suggest that it was he himself who shot the president, who was considered his best friend, twice. After taking the head of state he reversed almost all of Sankara's progressive measures, arguing that he was carrying out a "rectification"; of the Burkinabe revolution.

Blaise Compaoré's responsibility for the murder of Sankara was the first claim against Burkina Faso, filed by Mariam Sankara, the widow of Thomas Sankara. In April 2006, the UN Human Rights Committee issued a conclusive condemnation of Burkina Faso for failing to investigate the circumstances of the assassination or prosecute those responsible.

In August 2021, the Prosecutor's Office of the Superior Court of Justice announced that the trial of members of the government suspected of having played a role in the repression of the 2014 insurgency would begin. Blaise Compaoré was summoned again to answer questions of the judges. However, he did not appear in court, so he was tried in absentia. Finally, in April 2022, he was sentenced to a life sentence that he will probably never serve, despite the international arrest warrants issued against him to deport him from the Ivory Coast, where he has resided since his self-imposed exile.

Other deaths

• Leaders Zongo and Boukary Lingani: After becoming president, he removed two leading revolutionary leaders, Henri Zongo and Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani, accused of conspiracy against the regime.
• Norbert Zongo: Compaoré and his Presidential Guard were involved in the death of reporter Norbert Zongo in 1998 and to continue to intimidate the media of Burkina Faso, according to Reporters Without Borders. After an investigation into the mysterious death of David Ouedraogo, the driver of François Compaoré, the brother of the then president bureaukinabè Blaise Compaoré, Norbert Zongo was killed on 13 December 1998, together with his three companions, Blaise Ilboudo, Ablassé Nikiéma and Ernest Zongo. Only the reaction to the accusations for the murder of Norbert Zongo served to open a short period of time during which the power of Compaoré was truly questioned.

Electoral history

• Presidential Election of Burkina Faso (2005), 2006-2011

• Presidential Election of Burkina Faso (2010) for the period 2011-2016

Succession

Predecessor: Thomas Sankara

President of Burkina Faso 1987 - 2014

Successor: Yacouba Isaac Zida